Dietetics & Nutrition

Services

The Dietetic and Nutrition Department at Royal Perth Hospital primarily services Inpatients with a limited Outpatient service (priority given to malnutrition and complex tertiary cases).

Each Dietitian is responsible for providing Dietetic Services to a number of clinical specialties. Most Inpatient time is spent in the areas of Nephrology, Intensive Care, General Surgery, General Medicine, Medical Oncology, Geriatrics, Neurosurgery and Haematology, as well as in the Rehabilitation Division at SPC.

There are however nutritional issues for many hospitalised patients in all clinical specialties.

Dietitians deal predominantly with patients who require one or more of the following: specialised oral nutrition supplements, special diet modifications, nutrition education, enteral nutrition (tube feeding) or total parenteral nutrition.

The aim of dietetic services is to promote positive health outcomes through optimal nutrition, which is achieved by:

• Assessing individuals nutritional status (Eg: via diet history, food intake records, anthropometry, biochemistry, haematology, pathology, immunology and radiology results)
• Calculating / determining their dietary requirements (Eg: energy, protein, fluid and electrolytes).
• Provision of nutrition through use of specialised nutritional products, Enteral and Total Parenteral Nutrition.
• Developing and implementing nutrition care plans (Eg: burns, dysphagia)
• Providing Dietetic counselling (Eg: HIV, renal, oncology, rehabilitation and diabetes)
• Discharge planning (Eg: For patients who require specialised nutritional supplements or tube feeding at home)
• Establishing clinical Dietetic standards (Eg: Chronic kidney disease, nutritional management of spinal patients with pressure sores)
• Developing Dietetic resources pertaining to specialised medical conditions (Eg: Renal Disease, Coeliac Disease, Surgical procedures)
• Acting as a consultant on tertiary dietetic issues to students, other professionals, carers and community agencies (Eg: RPH nursing, medical and catering staff, teaching and training of dietetic students on clinical dietetics)